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Do you know someone who died by his or her hands, or tried (including perhaps you)? If you do, whether near or far from your heart, we hope you will join New York State and The Huffington Post in our campaign to help prevent deaths that need not happen.

This is a manageable public health crisis that we know how to solve, but doing so requires our focus, our attention, our resolve and our resources, tools that only the United States has.

Don't be fooled by the promises of riding your way to good health and a slim figure on a river of ice cream and butter. Stick with what scientists have known for decades: A low-fat, plant-based diet is decidedly best for our health.

If we've read evidence supporting our management decisions, let's own it by truly referring to the literature. But if we are only vaguely aware of research that supports a questioned decision, without first taking time to read the evidence and/or supporting editorials and guidelines, let us not sugarcoat our lack of due diligence.

The international drug control regime is broken. Past approaches premised on a punitive law enforcement paradigm have failed, emphatically so. They have resulted in more violence, larger prison populations, and the erosion of governance around the world. The health harms associated with drug use have gotten worse, not better. The Global Commission on Drug Policy instead advocates for an approach to drug policy that puts public health, community safety, human rights, and development at the center. I have listed the five pathways to ending the drug war recommended by the Global Commission on Drug Policy that I chair. (Other members of the commission, ranging from Kofi Annan to Paul Volcker to former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo are listed after the recommendations.)

As of this week, Ebola is killing 100 people every couple days in West Africa. But the true impact of the crisis in West Africa should be measured in the wider impact the disease has wrought. It is not Ebola alone causing the catastrophe in West Africa today -- it is an epidemic of fear.

Adam C. Levine

Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine, Brown Medical School

While many of the health effects of binge eating on veterans are similar to what has been found in civilian populations, it is clear that the disorder doesn't affect them exactly the same.

Robin M. Masheb

research scientist at Yale School of Medicine and VA Connecticut, and associate director, Program for Obesity, Weight and Eating Research at Yale. She is a public voices fellow with the Op-Ed Project.

So here I am, 26 and paying out-of-pocket nearly more than I make in a week because a leading insurance provider, on an expensive Gold-Level plan, cannot give me the medication I need. In a country priding itself on innovation, we're doing a hell of a job making sure our young adults can take the risks necessary to push our country forward.

Give yourself ample time for sleep, and create a sleep-friendly environment and routine, and your body can tell you a great deal about how much sleep you need.

Put simply, the argument that covering lung cancer screening would simply be too costly for Medicare to cover is unfounded. Lung cancer screening is clearly cost-effective - not to mention lifesaving.

Amid the media accounts of the worst Ebola outbreak, some significant context is largely missing from the major media reporting. Atop this list are links of the outbreak to the climate crisis and global inequality and austerity-driven cuts in public services that have greatly contributed to the rapid spread of Ebola.

Rose Ann DeMoro

Executive director, National Nurses United (AFL-CIO) and California Nurses Association

Mental health problems can be isolating and crippling even for people who can pay for the best care. By making mental health care difficult to afford, we create additional, often insurmountable obstacles for people who are already struggling at the margins.

Clearly, it is more than time to lead a nation forward in putting an end to stigma and the understanding that mental health is not only essential to overall health -- its prioritization is a matter of social justice.

How did Africa's health systems come to be so weak? Didn't the United States and other major donors just spend billions of dollars on global health in Africa?

Oftentimes people do not realize that our fear overwhelms us because ignorance overtakes us. Often, others -- maybe the media -- play on our fears to get our attention about a disease, but do not do a good enough job to educate and empower us.

As the seasons change and customers again flock to the salons, both consumers and workers alike can be a little more at ease, knowing that safety and health in New York City's nail salons is a priority.

Charlene Obernauer

Executive Director of the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health

I would encourage us to think broadly about who we consider our neighbors and how we care for them, and to engage with "faith-based insurance alternatives" with a keen understanding of the fact that they have many redeeming qualities, but that they are not in the business of insurance.

D. Brad Wright

Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Management and Policy at the University of Iowa

None of my differences with Tom Szasz diminishes my regard for this great man. His insistence on rigorously examining our ideas and his admonitions about the unintended consequences of would-be good intentions are timeless and priceless. His polemical style was a means of stirring -- rather than lulling -- the minds of psychiatrists and other mental health professionals.